372 



THE dairyman's MANUAL. 



seryed sweet for two or three days and then made into 

 cheese ; or the curd may be kept as above mentioned and 

 added to the new^ curd, in which case the rich quahty of 

 the cheese may be preserved. The milk may be curdled 

 in a large jar or tin pail, or in several of them, and the 

 curd may be carefully lifted with a common dipper or 

 ladle, and placed at once in small cylindrical molds of 

 tin (figure 83). Empty fruit cans, from which the top 

 and bottom have been melted, and which have been cut 

 down to four inches in length, will serve the purpose 

 very well. From five to six hours are required to form 

 the curd. The molds are filled with the curd as they 

 stand on the rush mats on the draininor table before de- 



MMMMWHM 



Fig. 83. 



TIN MOLD AND STRAW MAT. 



Fig. 84. 



fra:vie for draining citeese. 



scribed ; the whey gradually flows away, and in two days 

 the cheeses will have become firm enough for the mold 

 to be lifted off from them. The cheeses are sprinkled 

 with salt and left on the mats for three or four days, 

 when they will be ready for the curing. This may be 

 done on a shelf of narrow laths placed six inches apart. 

 The cheeses are placed on a frame of laths shown at fig- 

 ure 84, the frame being kept on the shelf, but removed 

 to the table when it is necessary to salt and turn the 

 cheeses. The cheese during the curing should be ex- 

 posed to abundant currents of air, for it is on this airing 

 that the effect of the curing depends. It is this system 

 of curing which gives the exquisite flavor to the small 

 foreign cheeses, as the Roquefort, the Camembert, and 



